muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
There's the concept of plastic paddys, lots of fraught conversations about whether someone born in the states can call themselves Irish, or with other ethnicities for example whether someone of mixed heritage in the USA can call themselves Native American and where the cut off for that is. And usually the theoretical arguments point towards some other underlying issue and don't reflect the lived reality.I think most people self identify their race and it seems to be a system that works pretty well. There's been a few anomalies, literally a handful we've heard about, so much like the op discusses it's not something that's ever likely to affect the vast majority of people's lives and self identification is probably a better bet then state approved ethnicities. Anyway fair enough you're out, just wanted to answer that.
Eg accusations of "not really being Irish" in my experience tend to come from English people who are a bit jealous someone's participating in a culture that doesn't centre them. Or sometimes from other Irish people who are feeling insecure about that culture being watered down or worried about being drowned out by a few shouty voices. And in my generation young enough to not really remember the troubles there's not this understanding of the fact an Irish person living somewhere like England went through struggles (and still goes through struggles) someone who lived out their life out 'back home' didn't have to deal with, so someone who is from Ireland saying someone who is not from Ireland isn't Irish isn't necessarily the trump card they think it is. Because being Irish means different but overlapping things. But none of that means the notion of a plastic paddy is null and void, lived experience tells us it's definitely there. Just not in the way it's presented when there's some nasty gossiping going on in student halls or someone's posting outrage fuel on reddit.
It does feel similar to the gender/sex stuff, I think we live in a world that increasingly can't accept fluidity and ambiguity. Does calling someone Irish mean they can't call themselves English? I'm mixed heritage but it doesn't feel like I'm 50/50, it feels like I have two heritages where other people have one (and other people have more). Like the difference between whether someone has two part time jobs that split nicely into a 36 hour week or a full time day job and a bar job. But I try not to talk about it irl because a bit like the anti-trans stuff, a lot of the conversation is loaded and a bit unpleasant.
I'm just glad no one thinks the solution is announcing my "preferred ethnicity" in public all the time, because I'm cis and seeing the expectation for me to start announcing my gender all over everything is triggering for me so god knows how trans people feel about it